bohemiancoast | Oral traditions

Or 'all knowledge is not contained on the internet' in fact. When I was a small child my father used to tell me bedtime stories. Some of them were poems. And one of our favourites was this...

"It was a dark and stormy night
The brigands they sat in their cave
The chief of the brigands arose, and he said
"Antonio, tell us a storio!"
And this is what he said.

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

Well, you get the idea. This could go on for some time. It's clearly a fairly widespread meme; the Ahlbergs wrote a book about it, for example.

M has just noticed that Googling for the version I learnt yields no results, though there's an instructive comment thread here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listeners/openinglines.shtml in which various people ascribe it to their fathers or the Scouts.

So. Do you remember this from your childhood? What words did you use? Where were you, geographically, at the time?
I have noted before that despite the work of the Opies, the rhymes remembered and told by children (in playgrounds and around campfires) are not, by and large, well documented as a tradition.

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From: (Anonymous)

My Mum used to tell me this "story" at bedtime sometimes. I used to love it.
Her version went:
Twas a dark and stormy night,
And the moon was at its height,
And the captain said to his mate:
"Mate! Tell us a tale!"
And this is the tale he told...

Sometimes she'd change it up a bit and use Bosun instead of captain, usually once the "mate" is telling the tale. Each time she repeated it it would become more dramatic so the words would have longer vowels. Or she'd go quieter and quieter, then all of a sudden shout "boo!" :D

From: (Anonymous)

My mother, born in Detroit in 1921 of English/Scottish descent, used to frustrate me with this version when I asked for one too many bedtime stories:
It was a dark and stormy night. And seated 'round the campfire were brigands young, and brigands old. And the captain turned to his brave lieutenant and said, "Alphonse, tell us a story." And Alphonse began...

From: (Anonymous)

This is a version that my mother learned , possibly in the 1920s :-
It was a dark and stormy night,
The rain came down in torrents.
The captain said to Antonio,
"Antonio, tell us a tale-io."
And this is the tale-io Antonio spun-io.

It was a dark and stormy night........

Now my 3 year old grand daughter enjoys telling the story!

From: (Anonymous)

Father from west riding of yorkshire. Voice got deeper and more scary until you put your head under your pillow and went to sleep!

"The night was dark and stormy, and there were Brigands and there were Demons and the Brigands said unto the Demons Tell us a tale, and the take ran as follows The night was dark......"

From: (Anonymous)

The version I remember clearly from my childhood, as told to us regularly by our dad is as follows:

It was a dark and stormy night...

and three bands of brigands met.

"Tell us a tale!" said the leader of one

and this is the tale they said...

It was a dark and stormy night ... etc

I always had visions of three groups of muttering men with hats and hoods and cloaks and dark expressions and cutlasses (a bit like characters from 'Les Miserables') somehow bumping into each other in the rain at some three-directional crossroads. I remember thinking that the telling of the endless story was the only way in which the situation was kept under control, otherwise a fight could erupt at any time (or perhaps that is the way dad explained it to us).

I have enjoyed passing this story on to our three daughters and I will occasionally drop it into a conversation with them with the introduction "Who would like to hear a story?". There are always groans from the girls when they finally hear what the story is, but I know they secretly enjoy it. The other thing I sometimes do is tell the story through several times, but changing the emphasis on individual words, just to drag it out even longer (and annoy them even more); but also to show them how that device can change the meaning of a sentence. eg 'IT was a dark and stormy night' is different to 'It was a dark and stormy NIGHT' (accompanied by raised eyebrows etc). Let us never forget that it is compulsory for dads to tell bad jokes, especially in a household of girls.

The girls and I Googled this tonight, after I retold the 'tale' at dinner, as we were keen to see where it originated from. We live in Brisbane, Australia but both my parents emigrated from the UK as children after WWII.

I know our girls will pass it on to their children (along with a few dad "jokes").

Thanks for the opportunity to add to the discussion - very interesting to see how far the version we learned has strayed from the 'Antonio' text.

From: (Anonymous)

My grandmother who is 93 was told by her grandfather in 1928:

It was a dark and stormy night and the rain came down in torrents. The brigand said "Antonio tell us a tale" and Antonio said.....it was a dark and stormy night....

My grandfather was called William Earnest Phillip from Liverpool and he was a master builder.

From: (Anonymous)

Twas a dark and stormy night,
Gathered around the campfire were brigands large and brigands small.
The Captain said to Antonio,
"Antonio, tell us a story", and Antonio thus began:

Twas a dark and stormy night...

My grandfather, who lived from 1881-1961 recounted this to me over and over again at my request when I was a child. He spent most of his life in the New York City area, but he did live briefly in the Midwest.

I used to think this was hilarious, but I remember vividly how annoying it was to my mother (his daughter) and grandmother. I still think it is fun!

From: (Anonymous)

From my childhood (North London but parents were from Gloucestershire) 'Twas a dark and stormy night And the robbers sat round the fire. "Tell us a story Captain" and the Captain began as follows: "'Twas a dark and story night"

From: (Anonymous)

I was trying to remember the actual words Dad used to use.
It was a Dark and Stormy night and the wind was howling wild, Three bad, wicked bandits sat around the camp fire, and one said unto Antonio "Antonio, spin us a yarn" and Antonio began as follows...

From: (Anonymous)

It was a dark and stormy night,
Two men stood on the bridge,
And the captain said unto his mate,
"Antonio, tell us a tale,"
And the tale, it went like this:

It was a dark and stormy night,
Two men stood on the bridge...

From: (Anonymous)

My father told me this as a child in E. Yorkshire England: It was a dark and stormy night And the rain cam down in torrents The robbers were assembled in the cave And the leader said to Antonio; "Antonio, tell us a tale" And the tale ran as follows: (repeat ad nauseum)

From: (Anonymous)

It was a dark and stormy night
And the rain came down in torrents.
And Antonio said to Antonio,
"Tell us a tale."
And the tale began as follows...
(Spoken in an ominous voice and repeated incessantly.)

In the 1950s, my father frequently told us this story at bedtime, usually by special request. We lived in the suburbs north of Chicago, but his family was from the Manchester/Derbyshire area of the UK.

In turn, I frequently shared this story with my own children as well as hundreds of young children during my 25 years of teaching in Pinellas County, Florida.

It is interesting to see how this simple story has evolved over the years. Thank you for rekindling happy memories. :)

From: (Anonymous)

My grandfather Hiram Weaver born near Selkirk, Ontario in 1877 and living in Cheapside, Ontario, Canada in the 1940s would recite this on the dreariest, stormy nights in an ominous voice and drawing out certain words. Not sure about gazable or what it meant or was spelled but this is how it sounded:
'Twas on a dark and stomry night
The campfires were burning bright
There were brigands small and brigands tall
And the little gazable said to the big gazable
Tell us an oooold war story
And the big gazable begun
'Twas on a dark and stormy night...

From: (Anonymous)

It was a dark dark and stormy night. The wind howled and the ship rolled, and the Captain said to his mate, tell me a story. . And the story went like this......

This was how it was told to me by my grandfather when I was a boy. It is now my 6 year old sons favourite bed time storey. as the storey progresses it gets DARKER and STORMIER but also softer until say about 5 minutes into the captain says ..it's time for young Johnathan to go to sleep!

From:

yiskah.livejournal.com

It was down in the Lehigh Valley, me and my old friend Bill
Bill said 'tell us a story', so this is the story I told...
etc.

Quite different from the other versions but the same general theme. My dad told me this when I was growing up in London in the 1970s / 80s, but I have no idea where he would have got it from - he was born in India, moved to Dorset as a child, went to high school in Canada and then spent several years in the Merchant Navy.

From: (Anonymous)

My father recently died age 103. He heard similar story from his grandfather. His grandfather lived in Michigan but was born in Ireland around 1850. It was a dark and stormy night, 3 men were seated around a campfire. One man said, "Jack, tell us a story." So Jack began, "It was a dark and stormy night. Three men were seated around a campfire ..."

From: (Anonymous)

My father, born 1904 in Co Mayo, told me this.
The night was dark and dreary, and the rain cam down in torrents. These were the words of Osonio, and Osonio says as follows. The night ....

From: (Anonymous)

From my childhood in the United States (central California) in the 1970s:

"It was a dark and stormy night,
and the rain came down in torrents.
The chief of the Brigands said to Antonio, "Tell us a tale!"
and he began as follows:"

(repeat aud nausium)

From: (Anonymous)

My Dad (born 1905 in Preston, England) used to sit me on his knee and tell the story as follows:

It was a dark, cold and stooooormy night,
Three robbers sat in a cave.
One said to another,
Antonio, tell us a tale.
And Antonio began…
etc.

We used to have fun eliding the words and running them together, thus:
'Three robbers….. sat'n'a'cave',' and so on.

From:

richpurplekegg.livejournal.com

My Dad was from the Isle of Man - His version was told to my Sister and I on heavy weather nights to tune us in to the power of nature I reckon, growing up in Oxfordshire as young kids. I loved it because he would go extra deep in his voice, and slower too (the slower the phrasing the better not the words themselves) - like a cross between Richard Burton and an old cold deep Saxon story teller - being part Viking both my Sister and I were spellbound with the passion of it all - even if told several several several times in a row almost making us pee with laughter - I miss you Dad xxxx Peter Richard Kegg xxxx Here it is -

'It was a dark and stormy night.. and Antonio, chief of the Brigands - said unto Sebastian - "Sebastian! Spin us a yarn!" - and Sebastian spun as follows... 'It was a dark and stormy night...'

From: (Anonymous)

Ilkeston Derbyshire told by my father around 1950 after 11 years in the RAF probably heard from his father who was a soldier in the First World War (Sherwood Forresters Regiment)
It was a dark and stormy night
And the stars were shining bright
And the Captain said to his men "I'll tell you a story"
And this is what he said.........

( G A Pick)

From: (Anonymous)

The version my brothers and I heard around the campfire from our father was as follows:

Twas a deep, dark, damp dismal night in the middle of the Hartz Mountains.
Twelve bandits were seated around the fire.
One Bandit, speaking suddenly said: "Scuddy, tell us a funny story".
And Scuddy, seating himself on the window sill, told the following tale.

My daughters were raised on it, much to their chagrin.

From: (Anonymous)

"Twas a dark and stormy night And the moon was shining bright And the Captain said to the Lieutenant: "Lieutenant! Tell us a story!" And this is the story he told-- "Twas a dark and stormy night And the moon was shining bright And the Captain said to the Lieutenant: "Lieutenant! Tell us a story!" and so on. My father was from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. HIS father was from many places having been on his own from the time he was 8 until he joined the Marines at 15 or 16- pre WW 1. Dad told me this story whenever I asked for a bedtime story. I eventually figured out that it was his way of not telling me a story. Grandpa would tell me stories but not anything about his childhood until he chose to tell me after I was out of college. I figured that this might have been something Dad got from Grandpa given the more military slant to the story.

From: (Anonymous)

it was a dark dark night, and the wind was blowing, the rain was pouring, and the skipper said to his mate, mate, tell us a tale, and this is the tale he told.....

it was a dark dark night, and the wind was blowing, the rain was pouring, and the skipper said to his mate, mate, tell us a tale, and this is the tale he told.....(repeat)

From: (Anonymous)

My father who was born in Derbyshire in 1931, went to school in Shropshire and was in The South Wales Borderers used to say this rhyme to annoy me as a child when I asked for a story:-

It was a dark and stormy night
And the captain said to the mate
"Aaaaaay mate tell us a story.
And this was the story he told.

It was a dark and stormy night etc etc

From: (Anonymous)

I grew up in South Africa where my grandfather (who was born in 1887) used to say:

It was a dark and stormy night
And the the rain came down in torrents
And I turned to the skipper
'Skipper, tell me a tale'
And the tale he told was as follows..

It was a dark and stormy night etc